Tsvangirai Exposes Tomana

Saturday, 06 June 2009 20:18PRIME
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said he was surprised that the state
intends to appeal against a judgement in favour of freelance journalists who
successfully applied to stop the defunct Media and Information Commission
from interfering in their work.

Freelance journalists, Stanley
Gama, Valentine Maponga, Stanley Kwenda and Jealousy Mawarire sought the
intervention of the court after the Ministry of Media, Information and
Publicity insisted that those without MIC accreditation would not be allowed
to cover the Comesa summit.

In a move hailed as a victory for
democracy, High Court Judge Justice Bharat Patel upheld their appeal on
Friday evening.

The judge said the MIC ceased to exist legally last
year when it was replaced by the Zimbabwe Media Commission following the
enactment of Constitutional Amendment No.19. He said the order would stand
notwithstanding any appeal by the respondents.

Patel
ordered Minister Webster Shamu and George Charamba, the Secretary for the
Ministry to retract their statements to the effect that journalists must
accredit with MIC for the purposes of covering the ongoing Common Market for
East and Southern African summit in Victoria Falls.

Patel said
they should do this by putting notices in the print media and also through
radio and television.

The judge also interdicted Shamu,
Charamba, "their agents and any person purporting to act on their behalf or
with their authority from making statements, publishing notices, or
attempting in any other way to compel the four and or any other journalists
to accredit for the Comesa summit, or assuming any functions of the ZMC
including the levying of accreditation fees".

While
journalists hoped this could bring a closure to the matter, MIC lawyers on
Friday announced that the state would appeal against the
decision.

Reacting to the announcement yesterday, the Prime
Minister said he was "surprised" that the state intended to
appeal.

He said the AG's office had indicated in its legal
opinion that "the MIC was defunct".

Tsvangirai's office had
sought legal opinion from the AG's office after Charamba dismissed the Prime
Minister's assurances that journalists and media houses were free to operate
without licences until the Zimbabwe Media Commission was set up in terms of
the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

The correspondence
between the AG's office and Tsvangirai was part of the evidence produced at
the High Court.

"It is surprising that it is the same (AG who
now wants to appeal) who advised that what was happening was wrong,"
Tsvangirai told journalists at the Harare International Airport shortly
before leaving for Europe and the United States.

Tsvangirai
left Harare on an eight-nation tour that takes him to France, Sweden,
Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the
US.

He told journalists: "There is no legal basis for the
media to be licensed to cover and report issues about the
country."

Meanwhile, lawyers and journalists hailed Patel's
judgement as a victory for those campaigning for a return to the rule of law
and freedom of expression.

"It is a victory for those who
wish to see a swift return to the rule of law, adherence to the laws of the
country as well as cessation of the abuse of power by certain members of the
executive," the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) said in a
statement.

John Gambanga, the executive director of the
Zimbabwe Voluntary Media Council said the government must now put in place
the ZMC to replace MIC.

"This is a major victory for
democracy, freedom of expression and freedom of the press," he said. "I am
particularly happy with the fact that the MIC's illegitimacy has been
legally confirmed."

The ruling also came as a relief for
journalists who have seen the MIC throwing tens of their colleagues into the
streets after closing down several newspapers.

Tafataona
Mahoso, the controversial MIC chairman had opposed the application by the
four freelance journalists.

Proposals Spark Fierce Debate

Saturday, 06 June 2009 20:10
PROPOSALS by the Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai to encourage an equal distribution of resources have sparked
fierce debate ahead of a new constitution.

The
parliamentary select committee on the constitution will on Saturday
kick-start provincial public hearings on the new constitution.

Since its appointment, the select committee has received draft constitutions
from the Margaret Dongo-led Front for Democracy in Zimbabwe, the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA), MDC-T and the Law Students'
Association.

There is also the Kariba draft that was
produced by Zanu PF and the MDC formations before the March 2008 elections,
which might also be used as "a reference point" in coming up with the
country's new supreme law.

But it is the MDC-T draft that has
excited civic groups and ordinary people especially in the western parts of
the country where the cry for an equal distribution of national resources is
always a major election issue.

Water Resources Minister Sam
Sipepa Nkomo stirred the hornet's nest recently when he told MDC-T
supporters in Bulawayo that his party was proposing that the new
constitution ensures the country's provinces have their own prime ministers
and cabinets.

South Africa has a similar system where provinces
have their own budgets and regional legislatures.

Tsvangirai's
party made a strong showing in the south and western parts of the country
after a promise to devolve power to the provinces and set up a compensation
fund for the victims of the Gukurahundi massacres.

Brilliant
Mhlanga, a Zimbabwean academic based at the University of Westminster in
Britain said devolution would entail the transfer of authority by the
central government to local level governmental units holding "corporate
status granted under state legislation".

"This concept is likely to
be met with so much resistance because most people are worried that if the
central government devolves power regions might wake up someday claiming
secession or some kind of autonomy," he said.

"This kind of fear is
unfounded. The other reason why most people might be against this form of
administrative centralisation is ignorance, particularly on what it
entails."Former Zapu Federal Party leader Paul Siwela who contested
the 2002 presidential elections against Mugabe and Tsvangirai said the
proposal to give provinces semi-autonomy would get nationwide support
because of the general feeling that power is concentrated in one
tribe.

Siwela said when he contested the 2002 elections his
campaign was centered on federalism and "a lot of people voted for me across
the country".

"There are provinces that have for a long time
complained of marginilisation such as Matabeleland, the Midlands and
Masvingo," he said.

Power struggles in Zanu PF, which has ruled the
country since independence have always centered on the need to rotate power
to reflect the country's ethnic diversity and fair distribution of
resources.

Tsvangirai almost lost control of his party in February
when he came up with a cabinet nomination list that was dominated by
politicians from one province, exposing the strong feelings in the country's
provinces about the need to share power equitably.

In
Matabeleland, political parties, church groups and civic society have
launched the Matabeleland Constitutional Reform Agenda (Macra) to push for
the devolution of power.

"Our organisation has been formed to
tackle that agenda," said Macra chairman, Effie Ncube said. "This country
can no longer afford a central government system because it has
failed.

"We need to devolve political and economic power to the
provinces."

NCA director, Ernest Mudzingwa said the MDC-T was
likely to get support even from outside Matabeleland if it campaigned for
the decentralisation of power because there were many provinces that felt
sidelined by central government.

However, critics of the
federal system argue that Zimbabwe is too small to be divided into "small
fiefdoms", an argument that has angered activists in
Matabeleland.

President Robert Mugabe early this year labelled
veteran nationalist Dumiso Dabengwa "a tribalist" after he pushed for the
revival of Zapu following complaints that the old Zanu PF administration had
failed to distribute national resources equitably.

"That is
very nonsensical," Siwela said. "It is either coming from people who do not
understand what a federal system entails or die-hard
tribalists."

The argument that Zimbabwe was too small to be
divided into small provinces, he said, was also misleading because countries
such as Lesotho, Equatorial Guinea and Botswana were smaller than some
provinces in terms of population and geography but were sovereign
states.

"But we are not saying these provinces will become
sovereign states. They will enjoy some form of autonomy," he
said.

Mugabe reportedly favours the secret Kariba draft because it
vests executive authority in the president.

This sets the stage
for a fierce battle during the drafting of the constitution, which will
reach a climax in July with a stakeholders' conference that will be attended
by 5 000 delegates from the country's 10 province. The final draft would be
put to a referendum.

In 2000 an attempt to introduce a new
constitution failed after the MDC, the NCA and other civic groups campaigned
for its rejection because their views were ignored.

Sadc Tribunal Censures Mugabe,Tomana

Saturday, 06 June 2009
20:08ZIMBABWE could be censured by its neighbours over its
controversial chaotic land reform programme after a regional tribunal
accused the country of violating the Southern African Development Community
(Sadc) treaty by ignoring a ruling in favour of commercial farmers being
forced off their land.

The government was in November last year
ordered by the Sadc tribunal in Namibia to compensate 77 commercial farmers
who had been violently removed from their farms during the chaotic
programme.

The court also ordered a moratorium on land seizures,
which it described as "racist and illegal".

But President
Robert Mugabe has insisted that the government would not respect the ruling
because the Sadc tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear the
case.

On Friday, Mauritius' former Chief Justice Pillay who now
presides over the tribunal with senior judges from Angola, Botswana, Malawi
and Mozambique dismissed a last minute application by the government to
postpone a contempt application by the commercial farmers.

The tribunal delivered a unanimous judgement that Zimbabwe was in contempt
of the regional court's November ruling.

Pillay singled out
public statements by President Mugabe and by the Deputy Chief Justice, Luke
Malaba that the Sadc tribunal did not have jurisdiction to hear the case of
the Zimbabwean farmers.

He also criticised Attorney-General
Johannes Tomana for saying Zimbabwe would continue to prosecute farmers
protected by the tribunal's order.

The tribunal concluded
its ruling by referring Zimbabwe's contempt to the Sadc summit for
consideration of appropriate measures to be taken under the treaty against
it.

These measures could conclude sanctions or expulsion of
Zimbabwe from Sadc.

Deon Theron, the vice-president of the
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers' Union and Ben Freeth attended the
hearing.

"In an unusual move, the tribunal also ordered the
government of Zimbabwe to pay the farmers' costs," farmers who attended the
tribunal said in a statement. "Costs orders are only made by the tribunal in
"exceptional circumstances".

Justice for Agriculture hailed
the judgement as a "positive development" for the displaced
farmers.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last week told the
MDC-T annual conference that the continuing disturbances on commercial
farmers remained some of the major challenges the inclusive government faced
in its efforts to restore the rule of law.

PM Unlikely to call for Lifting of Targeted Sanctions During Tour

Saturday, 06 June 2009 19:30PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday
left for a three-week visit of major Western capitals, where in meetings
with United States President Barack Obama and European leaders, he is
expected to plead for direct aid for the coalition government.

Tsvangirai is, however, unlikely to call for the lifting of targeted
sanctions imposed on Mugabe's inner circle amid concerns that hardliners are
still working hard to sabotage the inclusive government.

Tsvangirai, who was accompanied by Economic Planning and Investment
Promotion Minister Elton Mangoma, Tourism Minister, Walter Mzembi and
Regional Integration and International Cooperation Minister, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga left shortly after midday.

His said
his mission was to convince world leaders that Zimbabwe was now ready to be
reintegrated into the international community after years of isolation and
to seek funds for the country's economic recovery.

"The real
strategy of the trip is to fulfill the programme adopted by the government
to re-engage the international community after years of isolation," he told
journalists at a brief press conference at the Harare International
Airport.

"I hope we will be able to put across to the rest of
the world to give this inclusive government the benefit of the
doubt."

The Prime Minister, who is visiting Europe for the
first time as a member of the unity government he formed with President
Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara, said he
would meet "Obama and heads of government" in the European countries to
brief them on the progress the coalition had made since
February.

Tsvangirai is visiting France, Sweden, Britain, The
Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and the US. Western donors
have not extended any meaningful financial support to the inclusive
government insisting that they want to see evidence of real political and
economic reforms.

Although delegations from Western countries
that have visited the country to assess Zimbabwe's humanitarian needs have
left without any promises of aid, Tsvangirai is expected to extract funding
to finance the economic recovery programme.

Zimbabwe needs
US$8.5 billion in the next three years to finance economic
recovery.

Gwatidzo Wins Rights Award

Saturday, 06 June 2009 19:09DR
Douglas Gwatidzo, the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Association for Doctors
for Human Rights (ZADHR), is the winner of the 2009 Jonathan Mann Award for
Health and Human Rights.

The Global Health Council selected
Gwatidzo as the winner from the nominees for 2009 in recognition of his and
ZADHR's work in advocating for health rights and freedom from torture in
Zimbabwe.

The Global Health Council also commended the support that
Gwatidzo and other members of ZADHR have provided to beleaguered fellow
health workers during the darkest hours of Zimbabwe's collapsed health
system, mentoring of young medical students and providing medical
documentation and care for victims of organised violence and
torture.

The prestigious award is named after the late Jonathan
Mann, a dedicated health and human rights activist, who died in a plane
crash in 1998. It is bestowed annually upon a leading practitioner in health
and human rights and comes with a financial reward.

The
award is one of four that honour extraordinary individuals and organisations
that have made remarkable contributions to improve the health and well-being
of the world's poor. The Best Practices in Global Health Award, the
Excellence in Media Award for Global Health, the Jonathan Mann Award for
Health and Human Rights and the Gates Award for Global Health were presented
on May 28.

The Award was presented to Gwatidzo at a special
awards ceremony held during the Global Health Council's Annual Conference 11
days ago.

The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human
Rights was established in 1999 to honour Mann and highlight the vital link
between health and human rights. Sponsored in 2007 by four organisations,
Associated Francois-Xavier Bagnoud, HealthRight International, John Snow,
Inc. and the Global Health Council, the award is bestowed
annually.

Despite his untimely death in a 1998 plane crash,
Mann is considered by many to be one of the most important figures in the
20th century fight against global poverty, illness and social
injustice.

As the first director of the World Health Organization's
Special Program on AIDS from 1986-1990, Mann pioneered the approach to AIDS
that continues to shape public health policy today.

As the
François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights at Harvard
University from 1990-1997, Mann began to articulate the ways in which the
health of individuals and populations reflects access to basic human rights,
using as his warrant his years as a public health practitioner and
strategist and as his text the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.

History will especially remember Mann for bringing to the
world's attention the basic notion that improved health cannot be achieved
without basic human rights, and that these rights are meaningless without
adequate health.

Officials Thwart King Mswati's Cultural Visit

Saturday, 06 June 2009
18:51A scheduled visit to Old Bulawayo by King Mswati III was
cancelled at the last minute yesterday after the government reportedly
discovered that the cultural village was in a dilapidated
state.

The Swazi monarch, who is in Zimbabwe on a three-day state
visit, had been scheduled to tour the theme park touted as the country's
first cultural site.

Old Bulawayo was the capital of the
Ndebele state and was built by King Lobengula who assumed the throne after
the death of his father King Mzilikazi.

King Mswati had
also been expected to visit King Mzilikazi's grave in a gesture descendants
of the Ndebele monarch had hoped would help them strengthen cultural ties
with Swaziland.

But descendants of the monarch were told by
government officials that the trip had been cancelled yesterday morning
because of "cultural reasons".

Sources said the officials
claimed that in Swazi tradition a king was not supposed to visit a grave or
view a corpse.

However, this was dismissed by King Lobengula's
descendants who queried why Mswati was visiting Cecil John Rhodes' grave
instead.

Prince Zwidekalanga Khumalo, a descendant of King
Lobengula said government would be embarrassed during the tour because the
theme park that was officially opened last year by Vice-President Joseph
Msika was in "a sorry state".

"The King's visit to the Old
Bulawayo site was cancelled because there was a feeling that the state of
the site would not send the right signals in as far as the preservation of
our culture is concerned," Khumalo said.

"That place is now
dilapidated and its condition is not good at all."

He said the
cancellation was embarrassing because the government officials who had
organised the king's itinerary must have known that the site had been
neglected.

The bee-hive huts that were reconstructed by the
Department of National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) are said to
be caving in because of poor maintenance.

Efforts to get a
comment from NMMZ were fruitless.

The reconstruction of Old
Bulawayo began in 1991 after Ndebele chiefs visited KwaZulu Natal in South
Africa in order to learn about the organisation of the Ndebele
state.

Located 17km from present day Bulawayo, the cultural
site is a favourite of traditionalists and tourists.Mswati was
also expected to visit Matopos National Park before joining other heads of
state and governments at the Common Market for East and Southern Africa
summit in Victoria Falls.

Meanwhile, talks between Mugabe and
Mswati might undercut Prime Minister Tsvangirai's bid to get Sadc to
intervene in the deadlock over the appointment of Reserve Bank governor
Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana, who are Mugabe loyalists,
media reports in South Africa indicated on Friday.

Tsvangirai, through his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) party, wrote
last week to President Jacob Zuma, who is the Sadc chairman, urging him to
intervene in the stalemate. This followed a series of failed meetings to
resolve the issue between Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Professor
Minister Arthur Mutambara. The leaders wanted to break a deadlock over
outstanding issues in the political agreement that is the basis of the
inclusive government.

Quoting unnamed official sources,
Business Day reported on Friday that Mugabe met Mswati in Harare to discuss
regional issues, including the continuing Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa summit at Victoria Falls, but focused on the unity
government problems. The Gono and Tomana dispute featured prominently in
their talks, especially because Tsvangirai had reported Mugabe to Sadc over
the matter.

Mugabe and Mswati, both widely criticised for
political repression, have formed a formidable bloc within Sadc resistant to
democratic change. If Mugabe succeeds in lobbying Mswati to reject
Tsvangirai's appeal about Gono and Tomana, it would be a major setback for
the MDC, which is already facing a rebuff from Sadc over its call to convene
an extraordinary summit to resolve the issue.

Battle to Succeed VP Msika Hots up

Saturday, 06 June 2009
14:01BULAWAYO - ZANU PF heavyweights in Matabeleland have reportedly
started canvassing for Vice-President Joseph Msika's post following
indications he is ready to quit politics on health grounds.

Msika (86), has of late been keeping a low profile amid rumours that he is
fed up with the infighting dogging Zanu PF and is contemplating
retirement.

There is also a suggestion that the veteran
politician supports moves to revive Zapu by some of his trusted lieutenants
such as former Home Affairs Minister, Dumiso Dabengwa.

Sources said factions that fought openly in the run up to last year's June
27 presidential run-off election had resurfaced to slug it off in the battle
for the post of Zanu PF's second vice-secretary reserved for former PF Zapu
officials.

Zanu PF national chairman, John Nkomo and Mines and
Mining Development Minister, Obert Mpofu have reportedly emerged as the
front runners.

Last year, Mpofu angered the former PF Zapu old
guard when he told President Robert Mugabe that all senior party officials
were campaigning for then independent presidential candidate, Simba Makoni
who enjoyed Dabengwa's backing.

Mpofu is less popular in
the region as he is seen as a supporter of a Zanu PF faction led by Solomon
Mujuru while Nkomo is said to enjoy the support of war
veterans.

"As war veterans, we are mobilising our members to
stand up and support the nomination of Zanu PF national chairman, John Nkomo
to take Vice-President Msika's position," said a senior official in the
Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association in
Bulawayo.

"In that case, we are already in motion to try and
rally party members and members of the war veterans' association to support
the elevation of national chairman.

"Those that are junior
to him but harbour ambitions to take over from Msika should wait for their
turn."But Nkomo on Friday dismissed reports that he harboured
ambitions to take over the post saying there was no vacancy in the
presidency.

He said if Msika decided to retire, Zanu PF would
follow proper procedures to fill his post.

"As a party we
have processes that we follow when dealing with these matters," he
said.

"With regard to the issue of the vice-presidency, there
shall be nominations that will be invited by the party when there is a
vacancy."

Nkomo lashed out at party officials who were openly
canvassing for the post saying they risked dividing Zanu
PF.

"It is my belief that the issue is like a bridge which we
will cross when we get to it," Nkomo said.

Zanu PF is
already limping in the south western parts of the country after senior
officials and low-ranking supporters moved to the revived Zapu protesting
against what they perceived as the old Zanu PF's reluctance to meet its part
of the bargain in the 1987 Unity Accord.

At its congress last
month, Zapu said it was recalling all its officials still in Zanu PF and
those who remained were "now on their own".

MDC Compromises in GNU Worry Supporters

Saturday, 06 June 2009
13:58THE MDC-T's readiness to compromise on some challenges that have
confronted the three-month-old unity government will dent the party's
credibility as the country heads for another election in two years, a legal
expert warned last week.

A few days after joining Zanu PF in
the unity government in February, the party led by Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai shocked many democratic activists when it agreed to proposals by
President Robert Mugabe to increase the number of ministers in violation of
the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

Mugabe had initially
tried to smuggle into cabinet additional ministers among his loyalists from
Zanu PF without the knowledge of the MDC formations.

The
MDC formations said they agreed to the expansion of the cabinet, which even
violated the constitution, to save the coalition from collapse.

The MDC-T also appears to have softened its stance on farm invasions and its
long-held view that travel bans against Mugabe's inner circle cannot be
described as economic sanctions.

Derek Matyszak, a senior
researcher at the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), said Tsvangirai's party,
which has fiercely fought for democracy and respect for the rule of law for
close to a decade, was now singing from the Zanu PF "hymn
book".

"Instead of insisting on enforcing the GPA and what are
now constitutional provisions, the MDC simply accepts the flouting of its
terms in accordance with its policy of propitiation, appeasement and
compromise," Matyszak said.

The MDC-T leadership also
seemed to be less enthusiastic about the need to push for the removal of
Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Johannes Tomana
despite the fact that their re-appointments violated the GPA, he
said.

Matyszak said signals from the party's leadership,
especially Finance Minister Tendai Biti, were that they were prepared to
compromise on the two if their powers were curtailed.

Biti
recently said reports of serious differences between him and Gono were a
creation of the media."It has also been reported that cabinet has
approved Biti's proposed amendments to the Reserve Bank Act," he said. "All
this indicates that the MDC-T is once again preparing to capitulate to
Mugabe's unilateral exercise of power.

"We will be told
that a compromise has been reached and that Mugabe has agreed that Gono will
stay but with limited powers."

Matyszak said the MDC-T also
made a blunder by compromising on the re-appointment of permanent
secretaries as most of them were Zanu PF politicians retained from the
previous administration.

"So the MDC-T will have us believe
that the likes of George Charamba, the permanent secretary in the Ministry
of Information, and the likes of David Mangota in the Ministry of Justice
who is responsible for the conditions in the prisons are suitable and
non-political appointments," he said.

"As they did with
Mugabe's unilateral allocation of the ministries, they have simply accepted
Mugabe's unrestrained and non-inclusive exercise of power."

But Deputy Minister of Justice and MDC-T MP Jessie Majome said compromise
was better than giving up and allowing the country to slide back into a
situation where it is run by an "exclusive" government.

"We are
aware that some of the tactics are meant to frustrate us and push us out of
the game but we believe that quitting is not an option," she
said.

Responding to criticism that the government had not
achieved much since its formation, Majome said resuscitating the country was
a process which would take time.

"You need to understand
that this transitional coalition government was established to provide first
aid to a dying, ailing and traumatised society," she said.

"It is more of a paramedic act on the situation we found ourselves in as a
country following widespread atrocities and humanitarian crisis under the
former exclusive government.

"Work is in progress to bring
about the promised reforms . . . it cannot be an event but a
process."

But Matyszak said it was unfortunate that the MDC-T
had even compromised on fundamental issues such as the opening of the
democratic space.

"MDC-T has now decided to define
sanctions the Zanu PF way," he said.

"It now says sanctions do
not mean targeted sanctions and travel bans against those who supported the
Mugabe government.

"The MDC-T now uses the term sanctions to
mean the absence of IMF and balance of payments support and the provision of
aid from countries that Mugabe continues to insult."

He
said instead of calling on donors to "open up their wallets", the MDC-T
should be pushing for the opening up of the democratic space which he said
was crucial in convincing the international community to come to the
country's rescue.

Matyszak was contributing to a public
discussion organised by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

The theme of the discussion was "Assessing the Rule of Law, the humanitarian
and economic situation in Zimbabwe in the context of the inclusive
government's first 100 days and its 100-day action plan".

Councillors Alarmed as Parents Fail to pay Fees

Saturday, 06 June 2009
13:55BULAWAYO - Only 471 out of 37 734 pupils attending municipal
schools have managed to settle their second term tuition fees in a
development councillors say will hamper efforts to revive the education
sector.

According to a recent council report covering 29 primary
schools, parents failed to pay even after the fees were slashed by the local
authority following consultations with the Ministry of Education, Sport,
Arts and Culture.

Council had initially proposed charging
US$150 a term for children attending schools in low-density areas and US$20
for those in high-density areas.

But after they were
revised, the fees went down to US$10 and US$5 respectively.

Contributing to debate on the report during a full council meeting on
Wednesday, councillors said although they sympathised with the parents who
were struggling to make ends meet, the poor response will cripple the
municipality's capacity to provide credible education.

"We
must get an explanation from the relevant department on why it has taken
council this long to collect outstanding school fees and levies," said
Councillor Israel Mabaleka.

"It should be borne in mind
that there are more than 37 000 children whose levies and fees are still
outstanding and yet as a council we complain that we do not have
money."

"This is the money we should be using to improve these
schools and pay our teachers."

He said council desperately
needed the money to pay teachers and buy study material.

Councillor Clayton Zana said council should use every possible means to
recover the funds as they were not in a position to subsidise
education.

However, deputy mayor, Amen Mpofu who chaired the
meeting said council must be sensitive to the plight of the parents by
giving them time to settle the outstanding fees.

"The
failure by the parents to pay the fees is a sign that people do not have
money," he said.

Council is giving 10% of the money it collects
as levies to teachers in an effort to retain them.

The
unity government is struggling to mobilise funds to revive the education
sector whose collapse became more pronounced last year when 80% of the
country's school children failed to attend classes.

US$100 Million Needed to Revamp Education Sector - Coltart

Saturday, 06
June 2009 13:53THE country's comatose education sector requires at
least US$100 million to re-equip schools with textbooks and restore some
normalcy in the sector, the Minister of Education, Senator David Coltart
said last week.

Coltart who took over the ministry in February
recently revealed that there was a shocking shortage of textbooks at schools
in a clear sign of the state of the near collapse of the education
sector.

"The Education ministry needs over US$90 million to reach
the one child to a textbook ratio," he said.

"With the decline
in education, there is a danger that we will lose an entire
generation."

Coltart said his ministry had sent out the begging
bowl to Western governments and donors who have set certain benchmarks
before they could assist the inclusive government with direct
aid.

The restocking of schools with textbooks lies third in
Coltart's priority list, which also includes the re-opening of all schools
closed last year after teachers deserted in protest over poor pay and
ensuring the results for pupils who sat for school leaving examinations last
year are released.

According to Coltart, the United Nations
will be sending out an appeal to international donors and Western
governments for financial aid to revive the nation's education
sector.

"Part of the aid will go into teachers' salaries with
the other being channelled to the Ministry to revive the country's education
sector," Coltart said.

The education sector is a victim of
the country's decade-long economic recession.

To add to the
woes facing the sector, there is a huge teacher shortage at schools as a
number of them are reluctant to take up their jobs over the paltry US$100
monthly allowances.

About 25 000 teachers quit the profession
last year over low pay and trekked to neighbouring countries, mainly South
Africa.

Zimbabwe Launches oneLove Campaign

Saturday, 06 June 2009
12:41ON Wednesday Zimbabwe joined a regional campaign that focuses on
the reduction of multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships (MCPs), seen as
one of the key drivers of the HIV pandemic in the region.

The
national campaign launched on Wednesday last week is called OneLove. Its aim
is to scale up information about the risks of multiple and concurrent
partnerships in the hope of bringing about behaviour change.

A
multiple and concurrent partnership is a situation where sexual
relationships overlap in time. A sexual partnership is considered to be
concurrent if a person reports having two or more sexual partners in the
previous month.

The concurrency issue is very important in
the fight against HIV/AIDS as it increases one's risk of exposing themselves
to HIV infection, through exposure to invisible sexual networks which enable
the rapid spread of HIV when it is introduced.

In 2006 a
Sadc think-tank meeting in Maseru identified MCPs by men and women with low
and consistent condom use - and in the context of low levels of male
circumcision - as key drivers of the HIV epidemic in southern
Africa.

In
the wake of this meeting, a Sadc Regional Consultation on Social Change
Communication for HIV Prevention was held in Swaziland in October 2006. A
year later another such meeting took place in Maputo, Mozambique at which it
was recommended that MCP reduction be a key focus of social change
communication interventions in Southern Africa over the next five
years.

Zimbabwe's OneLove campaign is spearheaded by Action, a
partner to a South Africa-based non-governmental organisation, Soul City,
the Institute for Health and Development Communication, in partnership with
the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare and the National AIDS
Council.

Soul City and its regional partners embarked on a
three-year HIV prevention campaign across 10 countries aimed at reducing
MCPs. The launch in Zimbabwe is the fourth after Lesotho, Tanzania and South
Africa.

The other countries where the campaign's footprint will
extend are Namibia, Malawi, Swaziland, Zambia and
Mozambique.

The Sadc region is the most affected by HIV
globally. According to a 2005 UNAIDS report the adult prevalence rate in the
region was estimated at almost 11% compared to the global average of just
1%. In Zimbabwe the HIV prevalence rate stands at 15.6% for the ages between
the ages of 15 and 49, according to the National Aids Council (NAC)
statistics for 2009.

Research conducted in 10 countries in the
region established reasons for engaging in MCPs across all the participating
countries were similar.

It was established that some of the
reasons included the need to have a fulfilling sexual and intimate
relationship. Both men and women said they could not talk about their needs
and desires with their spouses or regular partners and so they sought
pleasure and comfort with someone else.

This practice is also
reinforced by cultural and social norms that view men with more than one
partner as acceptable and even desirable.

The OneLove campaign
was officially launched in Harare by the Minister of Health and Child
Welfare, Dr Henry Madzorera. He lamented the resources being channelled into
the treatment and management of HIV/AIDS, saying prevention would be
considerably cheaper, leaving resources to be channelled to other pressing
priorities.

Other partners in the OneLove campaign in Zimbabwe
include organisations working on HIV prevention initiatives such as the
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Southern Africa HIV and AIDS
Information Dissemination Service (SAFAIDS), Zimbabwe AIDS Prevention
Services Organisation (ZAPSO), United Nations Children's Education Fund
(UNICEF), Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research Project (ZICHIRE)
and Zimbabwe AIDS Network (ZAN).

UNFPA and SAFAIDS have
already produced multi-media materials on OneLove as part of the united
force which is addressing the pandemic in Zimbabwe.

Forms
of MCP "Steady" partner and other "side" partners often kept secret are
intergenerational sexual relationships, transactional relationships and
polygamy.

Reasons for MCP were common in all 10 countries and
these were identified as Dissatisfaction in Relationships and the types of
dissatisfaction came out as sexual, emotional and physical. And the reasons
for sexual dissatisfaction were identified as lack of variety in sexual
styles, poor communication: sexual/emotional needs, and physical abuse,
domestic discord, emotional and financial neglect.

A
married urban Zimbabwean male, aged between 25 and 34, explained his view of
MCPs thus: "The other reasons why men have small houses it's because ladies
treat their husbands badly. They don't prepare hot bathing water for their
husband in the morning, there is no romance but at a small house they get
that."

But the other causes of MCPs are social norms, money and
material possessions, male domination and alcohol use.

NAC,
echoing the minister's lament says more than 150 000 people are on ART out
of an estimated 500 000 and that nearly 2 500 people die every week due to
AIDS-related illnesses - down from 3 000.

The OneLove campaign
hopes to create an enabling environment for social change, in which
individual behaviour change is a positive choice, to get people to dialogue
about issues like culture and gender that Zimbabweans need to adopt if this
pandemic is to be turned around.

The campaign also seeks to
empower communities to take positive organised action to prevent HIV and
AIDS and to reduce the number of people engaging in MCP and ultimately
reduce the number of new HIV infections in Zimbabwe, thus contributing to
the continued reduction of the HIV prevalence rate.

Hoteliers Turn Down Fifa 2010 Proposal

Saturday, 06 June 2009
13:03THE country's tourism players have rejected as unsustainable a
proposal by the world soccer governing body Fifa to reserve 80% of the rooms
stock in Victoria Falls without immediate payment for next year's World Cup
showcase in South Africa.

Fifa's accommodation agency, Match
sent representatives to the country last month to try and reach a deal on
the provision of accommodation.

According to the contract proposed
by Match, payment would only commence with a 10% deposit end of October and
15% by the end of the year.

Match proposed to increase this to
25% by April 30, 2010 and a final deposit of 50% on June 1.

These amounts would be deposited into an account controlled by Match to
which the tourism players would not have access to.

Tourism
players said they were seeking to obtain a reasonable deposit that can be
used for working capital and daily requirements.

"Surrendering
80% of our rooms stock without any form of guarantee is risky in the event
that Match fails to fill up all the reserved rooms," said Emmanuel Fundira,
the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism president.

Fundira said giving
out 80% stock of their rooms would mean that the industry would have no
capacity to host teams such as Brazil, England, Nigeria "that we are trying
to woo to our beautiful country".

Fundira said the industry is
prepared to offer 300 rooms constituting 20% of the entire room stock in
Victoria Falls.

The ZCT boss said the industry was not happy
with the cancellation terms in the contract dictating that after April 10,
Match can cancel up to 15% of the rooms reserved without
penalty.

But Fundira said the industry is "ready and willing to
engage in further negotiations with Match so we achieve a win-win
situation".

Zimbabwe's tourism industry, whose image has been
battered for the past years because of lawlessness and economic meltdown, is
picking up the pieces and is touted to provide the quickest turnaround ahead
of sectors such as agriculture, mining and manufacturing in the new revival
plan, Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme.

Experts say
the country will reap from the 2010 Soccer World Cup showcase in South
Africa by providing accommodation to visiting teams.

However,
Walter Mzembi, the Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, believes
without a co-ordinated approach "we may as well forget it (World Cup)
now".

Mzembi directed the industry to work as a sub-committee
on the National Taskforce on Sports, Tourism Image and
Communication.

Mutambara Cautions Against Reckless Indigenisation

Saturday, 06 June
2009 13:01THERE is need for more creativity in the way government
undertakes the indigenisation programme to benefit citizens, Deputy Prime
Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara (pictured) said last week.

Speaking on the sidelines of a policy dialogue forum, Indigenisation and the
Capital Needs of the Private Sector, Mutambara said empowerment must be
about equity and access to capital.

Under the Indigenisation and
Economic Empowerment law enacted last year by President Robert Mugabe's
previous administration, locals must have 51% shareholding in all foreign
owned companies operating in Zimbabwe.

"We don't want the
government to use the number 51 to frighten investors. 51% is nothing but a
number," he said.

"What is important is delivery, sweating off
assets and ensuring delivery to citizens."

Mutambara said
creative application of the current laws is what the government should be
pushing for, adding that if the laws become prohibitive, they could be
changed.

Mutambara said whatever action the government
undertakes should not only be in the national interest but should
deliver.

"We have no business as a government to mine diamonds
in Chiadzwa," he said adding that there is an opportunity for private sector
to be involved in infrastructure development.

The crafting
of the indigenisation law has unnerved investors who equate the legislation
to nationalisation of foreign companies.

Their fears grew when
then Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Paul Mangwana told a
parliamentary portfolio committee in 2007 that foreign companies not happy
with the law "should pack their bags and go".

Analysts say
Zimbabwe should take a leaf from the South African empowerment model hailed
as the best in the region.

According to the Black Economic
Empowerment (BEE) companies that do not have local shareholders do not win
tenders in both the public and private sectors.

Participants at the forum said the indigenisation process has to be free of
corruption for it to gain credibility.

AfDB Team to Help Mobilise Resources for Recovery

Saturday, 06 June
2009 12:58AFRICAN Development Bank has established a team that will
work closely with the inclusive government and the international community
to mobilise resources for Zimbabwe's battered economy.

The team
is part of the pan-African bank's initiative to help revive the economy
following the formation of a coalition government in February.

Standardbusiness heard last week that among the staffers in the team are
Damoni Kitabire and Edrissa Nseera who are senior country economists
covering Zimbabwe.

Senior officials from the bank based in
Zimbabwe have held consultations with the government including officials
from the office of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

Two
weeks ago, AfDB's group executive board of directors discussed a concept
note proposing a short-term strategy for the bank to help Zimbabwe address
the country's problems and support its re-engagement with the international
community.

The 19 months strategy which runs up to December
2010 is anchored on the roll out of the government's revival plan, the Short
Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP).

"The objectives
of the AfDB strategy are to contribute to improved economic stability,
better financial and economic management and accountability, greater private
sector and international confidence, as well as the development of key areas
such as the rehabilitation of infrastructure and capacity building," the
bank said.

"The longer-term goal is the revival of strong
private sector-led growth, building on Zimbabwe's resource
endowments."

The AfDB will help kick-start financial sector
operations, identify specific sectors, especially those covering physical
infrastructure development where it can leverage its resources with those of
other donors.

It will also assist the inclusive government
develop and implement policy as well as interfacing with the international
community.

Abdirahman Beileh, AfDB director said the regional
bank is working in collaboration with other partners including the World
Bank, IMF, European Union, United Nations Development Programme and
bilateral agencies to provide the financial and technical support for the
new government.

AfDB does not have a Country Strategy Paper for
Zimbabwe and the country has not had funded projects from the bank since
1999.

For full re-engagement with the bank, Zimbabwe will have
to meet two pre-requisites which are the restoration of the credibility of
the sovereign state and launching a set of reforms (economic, financial and
institutional). If Zimbabwe meets these conditions, it will qualify to be
classifed as a fragile state.

This would unlock access to
grant resources under the African Development Fund (ADF) window and
resources under the Fragile States Fund to the country.

AfDB's enhanced support to fragile states and situations will be implemented
through the proposed Fragile States Facility (FSF) that provides a broad and
well integrated operational framework through which it can be more
effectively engaged in countries experiencing fragility.

The
FSF provides scaled-up support to eligible fragile states in three
ways.

It can offer supplementary financing to eligible post
crisis/transitional countries.

The support will be for a
limited period of time, with clear and strict criteria to be met for
eligibility, a specific allocation, and phasing-out mechanism and
monitoring, delivery and exit provisions.

In addition,
supplementary support will be closely coordinated with arrears clearance
operations to ensure the highest impact to the eligible post
crisis/transitional countries.

This means that the bank's
Post-Conflict Country Facility which provided arrears clearance to eligible
countries, will be folded into an Arrears Clearance Window of the
FSF.

The FSF can provide targeted support for capacity building
by setting aside a limited pool of resources.Targeted support
focuses on human and institutional capacity building and is implemented
through secondment or use of non-sovereigns to provide services such as
procurement, auditing, training or even social services.

In the
period 2008-2010, the FSF has a war chest of US$600 million.

AfDB has provided financial assistance to Zimbabwe since 1980 but suspended
its activities in 2000 when the southern African nation fell into arrears
amounting to US$ 406 million.

Chihuri call for Improved Security in Buildings Hailed

Saturday, 06
June 2009 12:52FOLLOWING Police Commissioner General Augustine
Chihuri's call for the business and banking sectors to ensure there is
adequate security at their premises, a local security company has
highlighted the many security options that are available to
them.

Commissioner General Chihuri made his appeal to the business
and banking sectors in the wake of an increase in armed robberies, the
latest of which occurred at Kingdom Bank's Graniteside Branch in
Harare.

"Armed robberies are quite rife, especially these days. I
feel that the business community should do more in terms of security. They
should try by all means to ensure that their premises are quite secure," the
Police Commissioner General was quoted as saying.

Supporting the police chief's call. Safeguard Security Group managing
director Andrew Mallon said there was a wide range of security options
available to local businesses.

These included physical
security barriers, electronic security devices, guard services and
cash-in-transit services. Professional advice on the most appropriate mix of
security measures should ideally be sought to ensure both business and
residential premises are as secure as possible, he said.

Electronic devices that could be installed include closed circuit
television, alarms, with appropriately placed panic buttons, which in the
case of banks need to be concealed but easily accessible to tellers, and
electronic controlled access devices that restrict access to certain areas
of a building to authorised personnel.

Mallon said a double
door controlled access security booth, such as is common at banks and
building societies in South Africa and the United Kingdom, is designed to
prevent a large number of people storming the bank in the manner that the
five robbers who robbed Kingdom Bank in Graniteside were said to have
done.

There are only a few financial institutions in Harare
that have this sort of set-up, whereby a customer entering a bank finds that
on passing through the outer door he is immediately confronted by a second
door, which can only be opened when the first door has
closed.

The space between the outer door and inner door is
designed to accommodate comfortably no more than two or three people. The
inner door either unlocks automatically when the first door has closed or is
unlocked when the customer presses a green button, provided the first door
has closed. The first door cannot be opened while the second door is
open.

Some of these security booths incorporate a metal
detector that would detect large metal objects so that people walking in
with weapons would be detected at an early stage.

Security
guards are particularly essential at banks and other places where large
amounts of cash are held. It is important, Mallon said, to ensure these are
well-trained, well-equipped and well-supervised.

"We provide
armed security guards where there is cash to be protected. Where we carry
cash on behalf of our clients, the money is locked and sealed in a container
with proper documentation. The guards conveying it have been especially
vetted, including undergoing a psychological stress evaluator test, to
ensure they are honest and trustworthy," he said.

"The days are
gone when companies used to send a messenger with a briefcase to bank money.
Nowadays almost everyone has some money on them and it will not take robbers
long to pounce on a messenger carrying large sums of money in foreign
currency. In addition there is a risk of the messenger succumbing to the
temptation to stage a fake robbery or collude with
robbers."

He said Safeguard recommended that businesses
that regularly receive money should site the cashier's office away from
public view and the cash should be deposited by the cashier in a drop safe
to which he or she does not have the keys. Cash safes, other than drop
safes, should not be in the cashier's office but elsewhere."It is
a good practice, where use is made of a drop safe or surveillance cameras to
advertise the fact outside the premises as a deterrent to robbers," Mallon
said.

"Grill doors can also be used to secure offices where
cash is kept or counted. Panic button installations enable a cashier to
press a panic button in an emergency that will either sound an alarm or
trigger a silent alarm that will bring the nearest rapid response team to
the premises," Mallon said.

He added that it was strongly
recommended that both businesses and householders subscribe to a reliable
rapid response service and regularly test their security systems and
drills.

"It is our experience that robbers tend to steer clear
of premises they know have a radio link to our rapid response service, which
is noted for the rapidity of its response. In the few cases where they do
attempt a break-in at premises protected by our rapid response service, they
get away with little in their anxiety to be off the premises before the
rapid response team arrives," he said.

He said access to
cash offices could be restricted using controlled access door locks that
require a security code to be entered on a keypad at the door or a card to
be inserted or an authorised person to have a finger scanned for biometric
fingerprint information.

"The biometric controlled access door
lock is the most secure because it can only be opened when an authorised
person places his finger on an electronic scanning pad," Mallon
said.

"The installation of security alarms and cameras is also
a good idea, particularly if the alarm is linked to an effective rapid
response service," Mallon said.

Mallon said it was
important to consider the training, equipment and supervision a security
company provided when it came to hiring a security guard to protect one's
home or business premises.

To take anyone from the street and
put him in a security guard uniform or to rely on a security company with a
dubious record would be to take a risk that could prove costly, he
said.

Alex Magaisa: Decentralisation: A cry to be Heard

Saturday, 06 June
2009 13:41TRADITIONAL Zimbabwean legend has it that when the Haya bird
sings, it is because a storm is on its way.

It is called the
rain bird. It rarely sings and when it does, elders take notice and prepare
for the rains.When you see vultures hovering in the vicinity, it must
be that there is a rotting carcass somewhere.

Others talk of
the bird that signals the presence of a snake in the surroundings. Locals
have devised the art of observing and listening to the signs; the omens. And
so we should in politics. We must read the signs and try to find what lies
beneath.

We must not let our prejudices obscure our judgment.
And so it is that when I read the proposal attributed to Water Resources
Minister, Sam Sipepa-Nkomo about the idea of decentralising power by
subdividing Zimbabwe into five self-governing provinces, I listened and
tried to explore the meaning of that sign. In so doing I heard a cry; a
yearning to be heard.

It is not surprising that Nkomo's
statements have sparked intense debate among Zimbabweans. Yet as so often
happens in these matters, the debate at times took the downward spiral into
tribal altercation once again highlighting the perennial fault-line on the
edifice of every young African state. It is a fault-line from which an
unstoppable and destructive tsunami can so easily be spawned. It is not
supposed to be like that.

It does not have to be like
that.

To my mind, we have to rise above 'tribalisation' of
issues and engage in constructive discussion of the issues behind Nkomo's
call. As a people going through hard times, we have to sit down, listen and
discuss.

The democracy we yearn for is far more demanding than most
of us anticipate. It demands that people make hard decisions on difficult
and complex political issues, some of which might at first sight seem
unpalatable.

It demands that people engage in difficult,
sometimes heated discussions in order to make very hard choices. Nkomo's
proposal may not be the brightest idea on the table but that is no reason to
dismiss it out of hand by simply characterising it as a tribal
rant.

For my part, I have thought long and hard about this matter
and attempt here to identify the problem which Nkomo's call highlights. In
the process, I also argue that perhaps even he and the MDC may have missed
the core of our problem as a country and that therefore the proposal as it
stands may fall short in trying to address that problem.

The problem of marginalisation and underdevelopment referred to is real but
it is a symptom of a greater problem which requires far more than
decentralisation of power or indeed the subdivision of the country into five
provinces.

Yet first, let's consider the cause behind the
proposal carried by Nkomo. It is the problem of how our political system has
handled the interests of minorities since independence.

I view
Nkomo's pronouncements as representing the cries of the minorities in
Zimbabwe who have felt marginalised in the political system. It is that the
way political authority is defined and constituted in Zimbabwe is such that
when they have had opportunities majorities have appeared to run roughshod
over minorities. I say 'when they have had opportunities' because as we know
from our recent history majorities have not always had their way. And this
is where Zimbabwe's problems lie - the inverse of majorities oppressing
minorities.

I argue that Zimbabwe's problem has not simply been
the classical majority/minority disequilibrium where the majority always
oppresses the minority. The problem, in my view is that Zimbabwe over the
past 10 or so years has been subjected to rule by a political minority. It
is vital to understand the source of this problem.

It arises
primarily from our general conception of political authority in the country,
which privileges a particular political class. In this regard, we have to
ask the question: What is the basis of political authority in Zimbabwe? To
my mind, there have been two competing sources of political authority since
independence:

The first is a circumstance of history, namely the
liberation struggle. There is a powerful school of thought which suggests
that one can only derive political authority from his/her connection to the
liberation struggle. The second is the election process.

In
this case one derives political authority from winning a free and fair
election. To add some clarity to this let us observe another example which
was believed to be a source of political authority centuries ago:

Religion. It was believed that good government derived from a religious
source so that the leader 'appointed' by God to rule over other people. Of
course, we have had our fair share of crazy ideas in our time, with some
politicians declaring that President Mugabe is the son of God, implying that
his political authority is derived from the Almighty.

Our
problem is that between the two sources of political authority, the
liberation struggle has so far out-competed the election process. This has
been reiterated time and again and more recently we observed that even those
who lead state institutions such as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe derive
their authority from those whose political authority is sourced from the
liberation struggle.

It is this rigid definition of the
parameters of political authority that has deprived the country of
conditions in which a democratic culture can properly thrive. Where these
conditions exist, it should be easy to foster a culture in which not only
the majority will is respected but also where the interests of minorities,
whose plight Nkomo's proposal highlights, are protected.

There
are a number of constitutional mechanisms which can be set up to ensure the
protection of minorities against oppression by the majority. Nkomo's
proposal could be one of them but if it is not the most desirable, other
ways could be devised. This is what we should be doing - trying to debate
Nkomo's proposal as a response to a problem and putting forward alternatives
where available.

So when I listen to Nkomo's proposal I
appreciate the problem that it highlights; a problem that must be solved but
I worry that it also misses the source of the challenge.

To put
it another way, I ask this question, would Didymus Mutasa behave and act
differently if he was in the provincial government of Manicaland? Would John
Nkomo be any different if he was leader of the provincial government in
Matabeleland?

Likewise, would Josiah Hungwe have been a different
leader if Masvingo were governed separately? Would these men be more
amenable to free and fair elections as a source of political authority or
would the liberation struggle still reign supreme as the ultimate source of
political authority?

The flaw in the idea that being governed
by your own is the solution to this problem can be seen in what happened at
independence. Many black Africans thought the same at independence but it
turned out to be horribly wrong. One of your own can be just as oppressive
unless a proper political culture fair and amenable to free-will is
fostered. Being governed by one of your own, whether at national or
provincial level is not the answer to the problems we face in
Africa.

We have to go further and define the parameters and
principles of governance; to reform our conception of political authority so
that the election can truly triumph as the legitimate source of political
authority. Unless that is achieved, the problem we face at the national
level could very easily be replicated at the five provincial levels, with
worse consequences.

But all this notwithstanding, we need
to appreciate the context and cause of Nkomo's statements.

It
is a call that requires us to engage in serious discussion because it points
to problems that require our collective attention. Let us not be swayed by
emotion. Let's identify the cause of that proposal and discuss ways of
dealing with that problem.

If Nkomo's proposal is wrong, show why
it is wrong but by all means try to offer solutions to the problem that it
highlights.Yet Nkomo and others would also do well to realise that the
greater problem we face as a nation is that, in fact, the political majority
has not been and continues to be thwarted by a political
minority.

And all this stems from the way political authority is
sourced in our politics, whether at national or provincial
level.

Comment: Scrap Bills Based on Estimates

Saturday, 06 June 2009
13:37THE electricity charges set out by the Minister of Energy and
Power Development last month are so unrealistic they could only be the
outcome of guess work. If the figures he based the charges on came from the
power utility they were meant to mislead him.

The Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has no capacity to read meters so
consumers can pay on the basis of actual energy consumption.

When
the minister initially suggested that families pay US$10 for their monthly
power consumption people did so reluctantly but were prepared to give Zesa
the benefit of the doubt. Consumers traumatised by the haphazard
"load-shedding" are prepared to pay in order to escape unscheduled recurrent
power outages but there are limits when the figures border on
extortion.

Consumers were shocked when the minister revised
the figures upwards last month. The minister should have asked for current
regional estimates.

Regional averages show that in South
African electricity costs roughly between R50 and R100 in high-density
suburbs and between R150 and R250 in low-density suburbs.

These figures are closer to the ones consumers pay in Namibia's high- and
low-density suburbsIn Zambia, townships in Lusaka have a fixed charge
of K190 000 (US$36) a month per household while those on meters provided by
the power company, Zesco sometimes pay more than K200 000 (US$38) a month,
depending on usage.

But most townships in Lusaka have pre-paid
meters and families in those areas now pay an average K80 000
(US$17).

Some suburbs have pre-paid meters and on average
consumers pay K100 000 a month (US$19). These are countries where consumers
are not subjected to the heavy disruptions that Zimbabweans
suffer.

There is therefore need to review the minimum charges
outlined by the minister, by bringing them into line with the regional
averages as an interim measure. The long term approach should be to allow
for pre-paid energy requirements. Consumers are already used to this when
they top up their mobile telephones. At least consumers will pay for what
they use and there will be no contested bills.

With
pre-paid meters, consumers are able to regulate their consumption just as
they regulate their mobile phone usage. It will prove cheaper and more
successful in the long run.

The minister's figures need to be
challenged. He needs to explain. This is how accountability starts. If we
allow him to dream up figures we run the risk of going back to the days when
Zanu PF arrogated itself monopoly of knowledge and even had the audacity to
decide how much of our own hard-earned savings we could withdraw from banks
and the frequencies.

What is particularly saddening is that
groups such as the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe and the Combined Harare
Residents' Associations and their counterparts, as well as the crop of
legislators appear to believe that there is some justification in the
minister's figures. This is in total contrast to the sense among the people
these groups claim to represent. This is not the change and transparency
consumers hoped and voted for on March 29, 2008.

In any
case, we are surprised the minister believes that Zesa has the right people
to run it in the new changed circumstances. It requires a sea change from
the management that subscribes to the view that it is better to sacrifice
operations so that the top echelons can live in the lap of luxury despite
total collapse of service delivery. The US$30 and US$40 should be suspended
until there is an informed decision.

SundayView: Moving the centre: Unpacking Devolution

Saturday, 06 June
2009 13:32I have followed Sam Sipepa Nkomo's views over the years. I
also happen to be one of those who engaged him in 2006 on the same issue,
although at the time it was slightly put as
"Provincialisation".

I enjoyed his discussion then, which I happen
to have to this day. But I did engage him on it with a view to flesh the
skeletal policy projections he was pursuing and seeking to understand what
the concept he was proposing meant to the people of Matabeleland and
Zimbabwe as a whole.

Today, I notice a change of name in his
discussion. Semantics aside; I also do not know whether the minister knows
what he is discussing and what it means in this constitutional
discourse.

However, before I seek to unpack the concept of
devolution which forms much of today's currency in many public spheres, it
is my wish to acknowledge that I sense some level of consistency in whatever
Nkomo might be referring to in his postulations.

What I do
not know is whether this is surely party policy or Nkomo's position as an
individual. What I gather from some colleagues is that so far this is not
party policy.

The main reason being that there is not even a tinge
of it reflected in the "Kariba constitutional" draft, for if it is surely
MDC-T policy this position should be coming not only from Nkomo but clearly
reflected in that document and also echoed by the likes of Eric Matinenga,
Douglas Mwonzora etc. Possibly, this stands as a sign of hope and
aspirations on his part.

Having discussed these inadequacies in
terms of policy shifts within the MDC-T and my wish to understand Nkomo's
locus of enunciation, I contend that it might be necessary for us to attempt
to unpack this concept of "devolution" as a form of "administrative
decentralisation".

It might also be worth mentioning that various
other countries have done it. It helps in situations like ours where people
claim that a unitary system is working when it is common knowledge that not
every one is benefiting, except for those who are closer to the centre and
playing politics of mimicry.

Before we engage the concept
of "devolution" of power, it is necessary for us to first seek to understand
that this term is part of the discourse on "decentralisation".
Decentralisation as a concept informs the "devolution" system, which is but
one of the tiers in a continuum. Further, there are various schools of
thought on this discourse; notable among them are the French and English
scholars. My contribution will be informed by the English scholars for
obvious reasons.

Conflating decentralisation as a concept with
normative positive values also leads to evaluative concepts which I am not
going to discuss here. But it might be good for some of us to seek to
understand how it is linked with the current discourse of constitution
making, democracy and the general ideation of market
reforms.

Decentralisation as stated above has different types
namely; "Political", "Spatial", "Administrative" and "Market
decentralisation". In brief, "political decentralisation" entails a
situation where groups at different levels of government; central,
sub-national (meso) and local are empowered to make decisions related to
what affects them.

Political forms of decentralisation are
usually engaged by political scientists interested in democratisation and
civil society seeking to identify transfer of decision-making power to lower
levels of governmental units or their elected
representatives.

"Spatial decentralisation" is a term used
mainly by planners and geographers seeking to formulate policies and
programs aimed at reducing excessive urban concentration in large cities by
promoting regional growth poles that have the potential to become centres of
manufacturing etc.

"Market decentralisation" is generally used
by economists to analyse and promote action that facilitates the creation of
conditions allowing goods and services to be produced and provided by market
mechanism sensitive to the revealed preferences of individuals.

It gained momentum during the era of economic liberalisation (the 80s-90s),
privatisation and the demise of command economies. Under this type of
decentralisation public goods are usually provided by small and large firms,
community groups, cooperatives, voluntary associations and
NGOs.

"Administrative decentralisation" provides a continuum
across systems ranging from low to a high degree of autonomy. The following
forms of administrative decentralisation form the continuum;
"deconcentration", "delegation" and "devolution".

"Deconcentration" refers to the dispersing of responsibilities by a central
government, for example, a policy directed to field officers. In essence
this form of transfer leads to spatial changes and geographical distribution
of authority, but does not significantly change autonomy of the entity
receiving the authority.

What matters most is that in this form of
arrangement the central government retains authority and continues to
exercise that authority through the hierarchical channels of central
government bureaucracy.

This is the least extensive type of
administrative decentralisation and commonly found in most developing
economies.

"Delegation" entails the transfer of policy
responsibility to local governments or semi-autonomous organisations that
are not controlled by the central government but remain accountable to
it.

This implies transfer of government decision-making and
administrative authority and responsibilities for carefully spelt out tasks,
for example, in the case of all state universities in Zimbabwe.
Vice-Chancellors have clearly defined roles and
responsibilities.

They are not their own men and women. The main
difference between "deconcentration" and "delegation" is that the central
government continues to exercise its control by way of a contractual
arrangement which ensures accountability of local government. In essence
"delegation" occupies a higher level of administrative autonomy in this
decentralisation continuum for local entities than under
"deconcentration".

Then finally, the concept of "devolution" as
part of a continuum and a subject of engagement mainly within the currency
of Zimbabwe's constitutional discourse deserves special attention.
Devolution occurs when authority is transferred by central governments to
local-level governmental units holding corporate status granted under state
legislation.

Federal states are by definition devolved,
although the extent of legally defined and shared powers devolved by the
federal government to lower level governmental units can be quite limited.
Furthermore, devolution of established regional authorities is always
discouraged in most countries, largely because most states are characterised
by weak central governments and so central governments are weary of losing
political control.

This concept is likely to be met with so much of
resistance because most people are worried that if the central government
devolves power regions might wake up someday claiming secession or some kind
of autonomy. This kind of fear is unfounded. The other reason why most
people might be against this form of administrative centralisation is
ignorance, particularly on what it entails.

An attempt to
institutionalise "devolution" of power to regions and localities must first
find its basis within the state constitution creating a federal system of
governance or a lesser version of it. Thus seeking to shift power from the
centre to the regions; South Africa and Ethiopia provide a case in
point.

However, there is an assortment of preconditions for a
successful decentralisation and an efficient federal system. Further, the
initiative for such a policy must not be a product of elite
reasoning.

If it grows out of the elite and their allies in the
regions without taking into cognisance broader assessments of the likely
benefits and risks contained in such a policy, then doom and policy failure
can be ascertained. It must be emphasized that in some cases this policy is
notoriously difficult to implement and might even be
disastrous.

However, it requires diligence, commitment and
political will on the part of political elite and the ordinary
masses.

Again sudden shifts to the regions of income, and welfare
maintenance functions can lead to massive social and economic dislocation
which is likely leave sub-regional governments with the task of maintaining
social safety nets and dealing with the plight of a population hit by a
severe policy backlash.

For such an eventuality to be avoided,
regional administrators must work in tandem with all the political actors
and not act like shock absorbers protecting local populations against tough
indiscriminate measures of the central government.

Emphasis
must be made that a weak federal government in such a situation remains with
little choice but to spend its increasingly limited fiscal and political
resources to buy the loyalty of regional administrators.

Zimbabweans must guard against this. Generally, a federal govt tends to fail
to perform its job as a provider of national public goods, including such
fundamentals as overall law and order, social safety nets, protection of
property rights and sound regulation of markets.

In this
discussion, since it is my contention that it remains to be seen whether the
concept of devolution is MDC-T policy; it can be further argued that, if it
is indeed possible that the MDC-T is pushing this decentralisation envelope
there is a clear likelihood that party loyalty is being
scouted.

Devolution can work if some preconditions could be
satisfied; first, by ensuring that the central government is responsible for
national public goods, guaranteeing a free market, property rights and
contract enforcements.

Second, if the centre ensures
unhampered inter-regional mobility of capital and labour, enabling flows in
response to the incentives created by fiscal policies, regulatory regimes
and social and economic infrastructure set in the regions.

Third, if there is strong political will and commitment on the part of
political leaders at a central government level.

Fourth, if
those calling for it are not taken for granted and are capable of fighting
for their cause in a concerted effort and committed to this as a noble
cause.

However, mention has to be made that these conditions
are defined from a capitalist perspective, but they do provide a telling
impact of what needs to be done for the policy of devolution to work. In
addition, I am mindful of the fact that these conditions comprise what has
come to be known as "market preserving federalism".

*
Brilliant Mhlanga is a human rights activist and an academic from the
University of Westminster, in London.

Zim Standard Letters

Fingers Point at ZBC Bosses as Resources run outSaturday, 06 June 2009
13:19THANK you very much for exposing the looting and corruption going
on at ZBC in the issue of May 31.

I am one of the few remaining
experienced and skilled workers at the state propaganda station. Many of my
colleagues have been hounded out because they are independent-minded and to
ZBC, this is tantamount to being unpatriotic.

I am very
saddened by what is going on at the national broadcaster which has now been
turned into a personal propaganda tool by a few individuals and one
political party. Indeed things have fallen apart at ZBC. Morale is at its
lowest ebb and programming is at its worst.

How can senior
managers buy themselves expensive generators and plasma screen television
sets when the company is struggling to broadcast due to obsolete and archaic
radio and television equipment?

Apart from failing to pay
workers on time, there no longer is any editing equipment working and
producers and reporters are now resorting to using cameras to edit
programmes and news.

Where in the world have you heard of a
whole national broadcaster editing news and programmes on a news gathering
camera? Even backyard production houses can do better than
this.

Hiring vehicles almost made ZBC bankrupt during the time
of Jonathan Moyo, Gideon Gono and Munyaradzi Hwengwere. Now Happison
Muchechetere and his gang made up of Allan Chiweshe, Tazzen Mandizvidza and
Retired Brigadier Kasu are repeating the same mistake.

We
suspect that they are hiring these Mercedes Benz, Toyota Prados and Nissan
Navarras from their friends' garages. Indeed, these guys are looting and we
have evidence to prove that. Only recently they increased their monthly fuel
allocation from 240 litres to over 500 litres for each manager's private
usage.

What a good way to loot!

They are selling
themselves company vehicles issued to them for peanuts, yet workers have no
vehicles to go for production, hence the shoddy programming on radio and
television. These senior managers are reselling the vehicles which they buy
for themselves, sometimes using the now discarded zimdollar currency. What a
way to loot!

What are their priorities really? These guys know
that days are numbered because of lack of professionalism and practice of
political patronage and therefore they want to loot as much as possible
before they are booted out.

They know nothing will be done
to them currently because their masters at Munhumutapa Building will protect
them. Certain senior ministry of information officials and their relatives
and girlfriends draw fuel from ZBC for their use.

Please
can those responsible save us from the madness and looting taking place at
ZBC. Please turn ZBC into a truly public service broadcaster accountable to
the people of Zimbabwe through Parliament. Cry our beloved ZBC.

ProfessionalPocket's Hill
Harare.

--------------------Telephone Tariffs Have Been
Slashed by 30%: TelOneSaturday, 06 June 2009 13:17THE story
on TelOne tariffs by John Mokwetsi in The Standard of 31 May 2009
refers.

A good balanced story could have been written had we been
contacted for comment. It is important to clarify facts. Attached is our
response:

TelOne was authorised to charge in foreign currency at
the beginning of January 2009. So it is incorrect to state that permission
to charge in foreign was granted on February 2, 2009.

The
January and February bills were reduced by 30% in an effort to cushion our
customers in these difficult times. The bills that our customers are
receiving are not estimated bills but are based on actual
usage.

Acting in the public interest and faced with the need to
strike a balance between affordability of service and our viability, the
regulator reduced our tariff from US$0.10 a minute to US$0.07 a minute with
effect from March 15, 2009. However, TelOne backdated this tariff reduction
to March 1, 2009 for the benefit of our customers.

We call
upon those of our customers who are finding it difficult to pay their bills
at once to visit our Customer Services Offices countrywide to make payment
plans. These are not being disconnected for as long as they honour the
payment schedules.

To date disconnections have only been
effected to those customers who have not paid anything since January.
Accordingly, any customers that have paid their February, March and April
2009 bills have not been disconnected.

It is generally agreed
that in order to make telecom services accessible to the majority of the
citizens of Zimbabwe telephone charges must be affordable. This is in line
with the universal access objective. Tariff charges must however be
realistic to support network growth.

The regional average of
tariffs for other telecommunication companies is US$0.09 a minute and yet
our tariff is US$0.07 a minute.

Kindly note that telephone
utilisation has not decreased with dollarisation. In fact, the billed units
for April 2009 are 25% above the November/December 2008
average.

Recent studies have also shown that at household level
the average local usage a month is 100 units which translates to 300 minutes
a month. At the local rate of US$0.07 a minute the average bill for a
household is U$21.00. It must be stressed categorically that those customers
whose bills are ranging between US$300 and US$700 as stated in your inquiry,
did utilise the phone. In Zimbabwe, we are seeing heavy utilisation levels
of about 2 500 units a month for residential customers.

Charging economic rates will enable us to make a profit and remain viable.
Business viability will make it possible to modernise and expand the
network, keep abreast of the ever-changing technology and to meet customers'
expectations in terms of service and costs.

Our customers
are once again encouraged to use their phones responsibly in order to avoid
crippling bills.

Collin WilbesiTelOne.

*
REPEATED efforts were made to seek comment in order to balance our story. We
tried, repeatedly both the TelOne general line 798111 and the direct line
for Corporate Communications 706090 but Wilbesi will be among the first to
admit how incredibly difficult it is to access TelOne. - Editor.
--------------------

Govt cadetship scheme a
sham

Saturday, 06 June 2009 13:08 STUDENTS
in Zimbabwe seem comfortable living with deception rather than facing the
brutal truth, that the government cadetship scheme is a
fallacy.

The government has gone for five months without
paying its employees salaries but rather allowances and yet we expect that
same government to own up to its promise of financing the cadetship
scheme.

We are now faced with a situation where some students
are going to have their studies deferred due to inability to secure the
monies required by various institutions of higher learning and what's
surprising is the silence of the government over this
issue.

The cadetship scheme, it should be noted, is
borne out of the guilty conscience of government after neglecting the
students and it's only there to save the face of government rather than take
into cognisance the plight of the suffering students. Firstly, I for one
strongly believe that it is a form of modern day slavery.

How can an individual faced with no other means of coming up with the
hideous and unsympathetic fees be able to resist applying for this
scheme.

Secondly the terms and conditions of this
scheme reek of evil. When you are bonded to the government you do not have
the power to negotiate your own salary and those students will now be used
as a source of cheap labour.

I call upon the
government to revisit this issue of cadetship and return to its senses by
bringing back the revolving loan and grant scheme.

Kurayi
Hoyi Nust SRC President.

-----------

Why Gono Does not Deserve to Remain at the Helm
of RBZ

Saturday, 06 June 2009 13:05
WHETHER Dr Gideon Gono authored the letter that has been widely publicised
on the Internet or not, the man has shot himself in the right foot, and his
days at the helm of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe are numbered. Gono is
gone!

Chances are that Gono did not pen the letter himself.
The letter could be a product of the hidden hand of some residual elements
in Zanu PF, including some in the military. If that is the case, Gono should
have dissociated himself from the letter as it has been doing the rounds for
quite some days now.

Chances, therefore, are that he
authored the letter and is happy with the contents, or he is aware of the
authors of the much publicised letter and is hoping that the contents of the
letter, even though he did not write it himself, may appeal to the Sadc
leaders who are said to have been sent copies.

Given
Gono's failure to distance himself from the letter, those who believe he
wrote it will be asking the following questions:

Why did
he find it necessary to copy this letter to Thabo Mbeki?

Why did he find it appropriate to copy the letter to Sadc Heads of
State?

What evidence does he have that Tendai Biti is
linked to the alleged externalisation of foreign currency at Honey and
Blanckenberg? Why does he find it necessary to discuss an issue which has
already been investigated and closed?

How was the
letter allegedly delivered to the Prime Minister's
office?

Are there any records in the RBZ mailroom to
show that a letter was dispatched to the Prime Minister's
office?

If Gono indeed authored the letter, then he has
just proved to the Sadc Heads of State and governments that he does not know
the appropriate channels of communication, and is not fit to occupy the high
office of Governor for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

His
letter could best have been copied to Professor Arthur Mutambara and
President Robert Mugabe as the three Principals of the Global Political
Agreement, or alternatively, addressed to all the three.

Gono has given a very clear impression in his letter that he and the
Minister of Finance cannot work together, and should that be the case, he
should resign immediately and allow the country to move forward. Gono,
please go in peace.

Benjamin Chitate New
Zealand

-------------

SMS The
Standard Saturday, 06 June 2009 12:33 ZBC guess
work I RECENTLY bought a television set for our office for
US$120, but I am now being asked to pay US$100 for a TV
licence.

I also have a TV at home, a radio in each of my two
cars. Can anyone tell me how much I owe ZBC and is it fair to charge me in
multiples when I use one gadget at a time. I appeal to the minister in
charge to order a review of the licence fees. Otherwise the whole of the
country faces arrest. Whenever a decision meets such widespread resistance
or causes such an outcry it means it has no support and government should be
sensitive enough to act and order a downward review. It is too much to
expect us to pay that much for one channel. I ask Happison Muchechetere, the
ZBC CEO to find out how much DStv is charging for 25 channels and a host of
other free channels and then reflect on his fees. He should not pass his
corporate expenses onto us. Improve quality in order to attract commercials.
- DStv subscriber.

****** SHAME on ZBC
bosses! Do they use those generators to watch Dead BC programmes or
satellite television? - Kusanyara.

No way!
THE US$40 that the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Engineer Elias
Mudzuri said we should pay Zesa is way too much especially here in
Marlborough, Harare. We suffer massive weekly, sometimes daily power cuts
for prolonged periods. So no way are we paying the extortionate rates. -
Verima, Harare.

****** OVER the years Zimbabwe
has been invited to a number of presidential inaugurations. Its
representations consisted of high-powered delegations. What boggles the mind
is their inability to learn from these democratic environments.
Behaviourists argue that environment is integral in shaping one's behaviour.
- Tawanaishe.

Leave Moyo alone PEOPLE must
stop criticising Professor Jonathan Moyo because he is giving an honest
analysis of the shortcomings of the government of national unity. One might
hate the Tsholotsho-born professor but one can not take anything away from
him. He is the only person who demonstrated to the people in Matabeleland
what could be achieved in terms of development if a person is given a
position in government. Tsholotsho could be somewhere today had he not been
disturbed by the politics of hatred and jealousy. Remember that in the early
90s he foretold the situation we find our country in today. So why fight
against such brilliant brains. Stop blaming Moyo for the closure of The
Daily News. Blame Sam Sipepa Nkomo who did not register the newspaper like
other papers which did under protest. -Ronnie Nkiwane.

****** I TEND to agree with the late Learnmore Judah Jongwe, who
once asserted that Professor Jonathan Moyo's academic track record was
dubious. Moyo's utterances during a recent interview with VOA radio was not
only shocking, it was woefully defective in academic relevance and charm. He
vehemently denied that the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr
Gideon Gono contributed to the collapse of the economy. Then how come the
people who embraced and promoted Gono's quasi-fiscal activities lost
dismally during the March 2008 elections? -
Tinotenda.

Please tell us CAN the Minister
of Education, Sports, Arts and Culture, Senator David Coltart please tell us
why it is that we now have to pay primary school fees backdated to last
term, especially after the minister announced that school fees had been
reduced and soon after we paid heavy levies. At the government school where
our children attend they are asking for US$150 for last term and US$10 for
second term and US$28 in levies. Will I ever finish paying for all these? -
Disgruntled.

****** COULD Senator David
Coltart, the Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture please come to
our rescue? We are at the mercy of teachers at Mt Carmel Secondary School in
Headlands. Why are they taking their allowances when they are not teaching?
- Irate parent.

****** COULD the Ministry of
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture come to the assistance of parents with
children at Christon Bank Primary School? They are supposed to pay US$5 levy
but the teachers there are demanding a further US$5 as part of their salary.
- Concerned.

Cross rate COULD the
government do something about the rand-US dollar cross rate because here in
Kwekwe we are being ripped off. It is daylight robbery and business people
are profiteering while ordinary people continue to suffer. Please do
something! - Suffer continue, Kwekwe.

******
ZIMRA needs to know that we want to pay duty without having to smuggle
anything, but we can only do that once it stops charging us 65% for our
goods. It also needs to appreciate that only a few of the goods it
confiscates end up being bought at Zimra auctions. Please do not turn us
into smugglers. - Trader.

Easily
forgotten THE Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe easily
forgets that Operation Murambatsvina left our children in the open during
the winter cold. His were happily ensconced in the comfort of their homes.
Now you appreciate how it hurts. But your actions will forever haunt you. -
Anon.

****** WHOSE money was Dr Gideon Gono
using to purchase cars, tractors, fertiliser and other equipment? Those who
praise him make it sound as if he personally donated these from his own
pocket, because then he would be extremely rich and very kind. -
Amused.

HOW can the MDC formations expect the Governor of the
Reserve Bank, Dr Gideon Gono to quit the billionaires' club? The price for
doing so is loss of all wealth and that he will not remember to reveal all
the secrets of the club. - O Makoni.

IF Dr Gideon Gono
loves Zimbabwe he should resign and not be an impediment to its progress.
Let him ignore the voices of a vocal minority who benefited directly from
the RBZ's quasi-fiscal activities. - Sam, Harare.

Comedy drama puts spotlight on ZBC

HARARE - The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) has
released a test-run of a comedy drama as part of a campaign to ensure the
Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) becomes an independent public
broadcaster.

MISA-Zimbabwe says the play, titled Dzimbabwe, chronicles
how ZBC has been reduced to a political public relations department,
allowing party sympathisers free rein to broadcast propaganda. National
Vice-Chair Njabulo Ncube said? the people of Zimbabwe were the genuine
stakeholders of ZBC and should have a say about the direction the
broadcaster should take.

The play captures how the four characters,
Professors Marashike and Mupererwe and Doctors Chiura and Mahoto give
themselves the right to define who is a genuine Zimbabwean. The panel
appears on national TV reciting mantras against the then opposition MDC and
glorifying Zanu (PF). Dzimbabwe is being piloted in Gweru and Kwekwe, but
could soon be taken nationwide.